Spring is daybreak
by mintyblues
Summary: Down the wooden steps, like a melting dance, into the eternal sorrow of spring's daybreak.
1. From sand

**From sand**

Memories are From sand  
Memories that cannot be remembered also  
Begin from sand

On the way here  
Around the hillside shaped like mother's ear  
Just like father's cough  
You heard the dry valley wind, again and again

Memories are Corpses  
Until the day They rise from within  
Memories reflect Moon of the day Sun of the night  
Grain by grain they stand up  
Becoming invisible winds

Both mother and father  
Were born in such a way  
And so were you  
Born from this Kingdom of Sand

_(Translated from Mikiro Sasaki's 砂から)_

* * *

**Author's notes: **Mikiro Sasaki is a contemporary poet and travel author from Japan. While I'm not entirely sure whether personal translations and interpretations of someone's work counts as fan fiction, I'm very fond of Sasaki's poetry, and thought I'd like to share my own versions of his work.

I hope you enjoy my measly rendition of his strange yet beautiful verses, and please review if you do. - M.


	2. Spring is daybreak

**Spring is daybreak **—Sei Shonagon

The tailor stepping on the sewing machine  
In the yard's corner  
At the women's feet  
Iron with rust  
Children's necks jammed in megaphones  
A banana leaf shrine in the yard  
A sour moon in the sky's corner  
Crying cows of the fields of  
Spring's daybreak

Now  
The bride  
Finishing her mutton breakfast  
Swiftly cleans up the plates of woven leaves  
From the sandy road the bridegroom and the band approach  
"My home is  
a measly place  
but please  
eat some gourds or sleep some and  
rest your blood-shot eyes"  
The band approaches singing a song  
Around where the hill turns green  
The bridegroom puts on sunglasses  
From here on  
He shall not smile  
No matter how splendid the bride looks today  
No matter what jokes his friends may say

A vicious thunderstorm runs  
The bridegroom's dress shrinks  
Facing east in the bride's yard  
Flames of the banana shrine  
The bridegroom swears  
As he ties a rope onto a cow's tail  
"From now on even trees would overflow with new blood  
Even as food is prepared they must resonate differently"

And when both feet are cleansed with water  
Foreheads all turned towards the cloud of smoke  
Songs sung with all eyes on the flames  
The bride steps out the candlelight  
Down the wooden steps  
Like a melting dance  
Into the eternal sorrow  
Of spring's daybreak

_(Translated from Mikiro Sasaki's 春はあけぼの)_


	3. Explosion

**Explosion**

Spring  
Season  
Skies  
Explosion  
Spring season skies explosion  
Spring  
Season  
Skies  
Explosion

When should I bloom?

_(Translated from Sasaki's 爆音)_


	4. This spinning world

**This spinning world  
**—The bicycle describing the folded hems opened unexpected possibilities (Benjamin "The Passagenwerk")

You must have been watching  
Though pretending not to From your bicycle  
The shivering of my lips

I wonder why you lit the lighter  
Only remembering Before you  
The uproar of jazz and graffiti on the walls

Crossing the road The one who smiled was you  
I was seventeen Staring at the park in the night  
Death Just might be those shadows

I was the one who could have smiled and yet  
I pined for sadness relentlessly  
If you were the weakly shining moon I was a strand of grass in the fields

Thirty years since Ten years earlier you  
Had died, I learned At a café at night  
When I ordered my fifth glass of Bourbon

I hate bats in the spring Butterflies in the summer  
Cherry blossoms in the sunset Taiko drumming  
Cheerleading student uniforms Smell of sweat

On the hillside you Rode by without saying hi  
Is it because I lowered my eyes? What I really wish I'd known  
About those people About those You and me

I was waiting at the park in the night Dammit!  
Just forget it From the valleys between dark brown buildings  
A blind electric post Looked this way

You purposefully exposed your legs Riding towards me  
Yet I couldn't keep up On the saddle  
Of this spinning world

If it were motivation for speed The more ancient  
Horses would win Even though you understand thirty years  
Clinging doubtfully to an enticing image

_(Translated from Sasaki's この世の回転)_


	5. Blue still there

**Blue still there**

You there pens down  
All that can form shapes on paper is strange  
The sewing machine at home says so  
I bought this guy fifty years ago you know  
It's still moving As long as you oil the thing it works  
The sheep that I just killed yesterday  
Still hanging from that wall  
First Drink some sake

Passing under white stars on the doorframe  
You were supposed to have arrived by now  
Otherwise The wind charm wouldn't work, would it  
Voices praising the wind wouldn't be freed, would it  
This old castle  
Human fingers on the mountaintop  
If you want to get there  
Wear your salt suspended high school uniform  
Down to the yellow valley  
Ride a horse  
Up the hill of the elementary school  
The old houses at the top  
All melting now

You know how there's always the kid who cries before fighting  
Well I was that kid when I was younger  
Those guys are scary You never know what to expect next  
The wind here is the same  
Please be aware of the afternoon wind  
That guy always cries first  
And He makes the horses float on the mountain road  
Close your eyes when that happens  
It's good enough to remember memories from decades back and sing  
I'm as old as this town  
Like a small bell bean  
Slowly getting fatter

We can sit anywhere  
Born from the water  
Anywhere we flow  
Hey You're covered in sand dust  
Still standing alone on the desk at middle school  
Like a bent candle

_(Translated from Sasaki's まだそこにいる青)_


End file.
